Treasure Mountain Contamination

Treasure Mountain Junior High School, perched over a former ore‑processing tailings pile, emerged from a decade‑long remediation with oxidized copper slag and lead‑laden quartz still entrenched beneath its asphalt. The Park City School District (PCSD) hired Hogan Construction to dewater the site, asserting compliance with the Construction Dewatering Hydrostatic Testing Permit. In reality, the contractor withdrew 500,000 gallons of arsenic‑laden groundwater into Silver Creek over a three‑hour burst, a discharge that violated state drinking‑water standards and the Class 1C designation of the stream. R&R Environmental, the debriefed site consultant, had already flagged the contamination in August but was immediately cancelled, giving the district a veneer of due diligence while the legal papers stayed frozen in a DEQ investigation. For an investor eyeing a high‑yield asset, the transitively exposed liability and the resulting erosion of the landscape’s sheen undermine the ROI; the aesthetic value of a reclaimed field is subverted by a tarnished, perhaps forever‑damaged, blue‑green resource. In light of potential remediation costs, tax credit deductions and looming enforcement, the cynical conclusion is to Sell.